{"id":183925,"date":"2024-02-23T09:06:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T17:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=183925"},"modified":"2024-07-31T10:58:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T17:58:46","slug":"mcafee-joins-tech-accord-to-combat-use-of-ai-in-2024-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/mcafee-news\/mcafee-joins-tech-accord-to-combat-use-of-ai-in-2024-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"McAfee Joins Tech Accord to Combat Use of AI in 2024 Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks the world\u2019s biggest election year yet.<\/p>\n

An estimated four billion voters will head to the polls across more than 60 national elections worldwide in 2024 \u2014 all at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make history of its own. Without question, the harmful use of AI will play a role in election interference worldwide.<\/p>\n

In fact, it already has.<\/p>\n

In January, thousands of U.S. voters in New Hampshire received an AI robocall that impersonated President Joe Biden, urging them not to vote in the primary. In the UK, more than 100 deepfake social media ads impersonated Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the Meta platform last December[ii]<\/a>. Similarly, the 2023 parliamentary elections in Slovakia spawned deepfake audio clips that featured false proposals for rigging votes and raising the price of beer[iii]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t put it more plainly. The harmful use of AI has the potential to influence an election.<\/p>\n

The rise of AI in major elections.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In just over a year, AI tools have rapidly evolved, offering a wealth of benefits. It analyzes health data on massive scales, which promotes better healthcare outcomes. It helps supermarkets bring the freshest produce to the aisles by streamlining the supply chain. And it does plenty of helpful everyday things too, like recommending movies and shows in our streaming queues based on what we like.<\/p>\n

Yet as with practically any technology, whether AI helps or harms is up to the person using it. And plenty of bad actors have chosen to use it for harm. Scammers have used it to dupe people with convincing \u201cdeepfakes\u201d that impersonate everyone from Taylor Swift<\/a> to members of their own family<\/a> with phony audio, video, and photos created by AI. Further, AI has also helped scammers spin up phishing emails and texts that look achingly legit, all on a massive scale thanks to AI\u2019s ease of use.<\/p>\n

Now, consider how those same deepfakes and scams might influence an election year. We have no doubt, the examples cited above are only the start.<\/p>\n

Our pledge this election year.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Within this climate, we\u2019ve pledged to help prevent deceptive AI content from interfering with this year\u2019s global elections as part of the \u201cTech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections<\/a>.\u201d We join leading tech companies such as Adobe, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok to play our part in protecting elections and the electoral process.<\/p>\n

Collectively, we\u2019ll bring our respective powers to combat deepfakes and other harmful uses of AI. That includes digital content such as AI-generated audio, video, and images that deceptively fake or alter the appearance, voice, or actions of political candidates, election officials, and other figures in democratic elections. Likewise, it further covers content that provides false info about when, where, and how people can cast their vote.<\/p>\n

A set of seven principles guide the way for this accord, with each signatory of the pledge lending their strengths to the cause:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center>Even before joining the accord, we\u2019ve played a strong role on the counts of Detection, Public Awareness, and Resilience. The accord only bolsters our efforts by aligning them with others. To mention a few of our efforts to date:<\/p>\n